Passionate musicians Caris and
Liam grew up centuries apart. When their fates collide, they must learn to
trust each other and work together to stop a dark force from seizing both
Fae and human worlds.

Storm Warned is Book 3 in the Grim Series, but every story is designed to stand alone - you won't get lost, I promise!

Excerpt 1 from Storm Warned:

The
sound of shattering glass woke him, and for a moment Liam didn’t know where he
was. Another crash from somewhere above cleared some of the sleep from his
brain, but the roaring in his ears continued. Wind, he realized suddenly. A hellacious storm was shaking the
entire house to its century-old foundations. He’d fallen asleep in front of the
damn TV again, but it was off and so were the lights. Power must be –

Twin
bolts of lightning struck close by, and instinct had him diving for the floor
behind the couch just as something exploded in the yard. Before he could take
another breath, thunder battered his senses until he was forced to clamp his
hands over his ears. The floor beneath him vibrated and shards of glass and
wood rained down around him. And something huge, dark and heavy came crashing
down beside him like a damn refrigerator, narrowly missing him.

When the
tumult finally died away, lightning continued to flare and flicker, enabling
him to see part of a tree impaling the living room wall, stripped of all
branches like a giant’s spear – and right where Brewster the Mooster had always hung. Uncle Conell’s ancient trophy
had been named by a three-year-old Liam, and was practically part of the
family. Now the searing flashes of light revealed the enormous stuffed head
upside down mere inches from to Liam’s hiding place. Its monstrous antlers had
been driven into the floorboards, and one glass eye hung free like something
out of a horror movie.

Every
window in the room had shattered, and the force of the wind drove the rain
sideways through the opening, the furious drops soaking everything.

Cautiously,
Liam rose and felt his way to the kitchen where a collection of candles,
flashlights, and battery-filled lanterns collected dust on top of the fridge.
He grabbed a lantern, and tucked a small penlight in his pocket, but with the
near-continuous flashes from the storm, he quickly realized there was little
point in turning either light on. No point going upstairs either – the sound
alone was enough to tell him that the windows were gone up there as well, and
he couldn’t do anything more about that than about the broken glass that
blanketed the living room. Suddenly the house shook hard enough that pictures
fell from walls in every room, as if to underscore that this was no ordinary
thunderstorm. Tornadoes were rare here but not unheard of, and Liam decided to
err on the side of caution, taking shelter in the bottom of a solidly-built
hallway closet.

Whose bright idea was it
to put the door to the damn cellar on the outside of the house?

Excerpt 2 from Storm Warned:

In the human world, the horizon was just blushing with dawn,
yet evening was new as Caris returned to the Nine Realms, and the moon had not
reached its height. The cool air was thick with the scents of exotic
night-blooming flowers, and strange constellations glittered high above. She
would never understand how the faery kingdom could lie far beneath the Black
Mountains of Wales and yet have a sun and moon and stars! It should be black as
Hades here, dark and suffocating, but all was brighter and more vivid than the
world above, even at night.

The beauty did not cheer her, however. Her appointed task had
taken her to a sullen young man who routinely stabbed his body with needles.
Thinking the great black dog in his room was a hallucination, he’d thrown an
ale bottle at her, then laughed out loud when it passed right through her as if
she were a ghost. Like most of the human world, he had forgotten the old faery
legends—if he had ever heard of them at all. But whether or not he understood
her purpose, he would still be dead the next day of his habit.

The thought made her soul sick, and as always, Caris loathed
her morbid role. She cared about the people she appeared to—and surely that was
the worst quality in the world for a death dog to possess. She couldn’t seem to
help herself, though she suspected the heartache would eventually kill her
soul. So far, she hadn’t forgotten what it was to be mortal herself, hadn’t
forgotten what it was like to be part of the human world above. Not yet. Other
grims, she knew, eventually lost sight of their origins, especially the ones
who had been among the Fair Ones for a very long time. Some began to worship
their fae captors, who surpassed all human dreams of beauty. Other grims became
despondent, wishing that the death they foretold was their own, or they stopped
feeling emotion at all, as if their hearts had died within them. Far too many
turned cruel, deriving great pleasure in frightening or tormenting those whom
they were sent to warn.

Caris still attempted to lessen people’s fears. She behaved
calmly, tried not to surprise them, and she certainly didn’t chase them. In
fact, she tried to model her behavior from the loyal and friendly collies her
da had kept with the sheep. Sadly, it didn’t work very often. Not surprising
when all grims were black as sin itself, and monstrous in size. Most were like
mastiffs or like wolves. Some had glowing eyes, and their very appearance was
designed to inspire raw terror, even if the person had no idea what the dog’s
morbid mission was.

Though tall as a man’s waist, Caris was more slightly built
than the other grims. More like a deerhound, she thought—as far as she could
discern without being able to see her reflection—or perhaps it was because she
was female.

In honor of the season, I thought I'd tell you a little about one of my favorite horror novels, which I first read as a monster-movie-obsessed kid.First published in September of 1897, the original DRACULA has never once been out of print! Not only has Stoker's novel remained incredibly popular, it's responsible for an amazing pop culture love affair with vampires. (Think about it -- without Dracula, there would be no Twilight!)

10 Things You Didn't Know About "Dracula"

Bram Stoker, 1847 to 1912

1. The original title of Dracula was "The UN-DEAD", but the author changed it at the last minute. 2. The character of Count Dracula has little in common with the real life prince, Vlad Dracula, other than the name, and perhaps the quality of utter ruthlessness. 3. Dracula means son of the dragon -- Vlad Dracula's father was Vlad Dracul, ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century. They both belonged to the Order of the Dragon, a brotherhood of knights devoted to defending Christianity against the invading Ottoman Turks.4. Author Bram Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland, and had a total of 12 novels published. Dracula was his 5th book -- and his most popular.5. There are literally over 1000 books and over 200 movies based on the Stoker's vampire character, Dracula.

6. Stoker traveled the world, but never visited Transylvania or Eastern Europe, the setting for his vampire novel. He did, however, spend a lot of time studying the folklore from that area, and reading its history.

Bran Castle in Romania, nicknamed Dracula's Castle.

7. Bram Stoker was distantly related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author behind Sherlock Holmes.8. Stoker spent time in the United States. Invited not once but twice to the White House, he knew two presidents - William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.9. Dracula's castle was modeled after Bran Castle in Romania. Vlad Dracul never lived there but his army passed through the area in early 1459.10. The original manuscript of Dracula -- still titled "THE UN-DEAD" -- was discovered not in Stoker's native country, but in a barn in Pennsylvania about thirty years ago!

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